Plot_AMIE Help File I. Running Plot_AMIE Choose AMIE XDR file - Type desired file in 'AMIE XDR File:' box and hit 'OPEN' (make sure it has .xdr extension). or - Click 'CHOOSE', then pick file from list (double-click on file or single-click and hit 'OK'). - Wait while IDL loads in the file info. Choose Display Option A. Click on 'Plot Single Frame/Save PS File' if you wish to work with single plots. You can produce screen images, PostScript files, and GIF files. Plot Frame Options - 'PLOT' can be clicked at any time to plot or replot desired changes. - Click on 'CHOOSE TIME' and scroll to time of desired frame, click on time - Choose parameters for image and contour plots using pull-down menus. Note that pertinent 'Plot Options' may change depending on choice of parameter. - A default contour increment is chosen. This value can be changed at any time. Click 'PLOT' to refresh window with new contour increment (the default settings can also be changed: see 'User Customizing' below). - The Pull-down menu 'COLOR' allows the choice of black, red, or white contours. This is helpful when the image color obscures the contour lines. Click 'PLOT' to refresh. - IMAGE MAX and MIN are the actual maximum and minimum of the chosen image parameter. These values can be changed at any time. Click Plot to refresh. - To change color tables: - Click on 'COLORS' - Choose table from scrolling list. Labels are automatically changed to white, background to black. - 'Stretch' will remove colors from the top and bottom of the table and stretch remaining colors to fit. See 'User Customizing' section below for more detailed explanation. - Click 'Done' when finished with XLoadCT. - To create PostScript file of plot: - Use above procedure to choose proper time and parameters. Perhaps click 'PLOT' to make sure everything looks correct before proceding. - Click on 'Create PS' to bring up PS Options window - Choose white or black background (the entire plot area). - Type in desired path and filename (use 'CHOOSE' to find path) - Clicking on 'WRITE PS FILE' will creat a PostScript file of chosen name using all chosen Plot Frame Options. - If your Postscript file colors are not correct, it is probably because you don't have enough available colors. See 'User Customizing' below for solutions. - To create GIF file: - Create a screen plot using 'PLOT'. This plot window must be open. - Click on 'WRITE GIF'. - Enter filename and click on 'OK'. - GIF indentical to screen image will be saved. B. Click on 'Animate Span/Save MPEG' if you wish to produce a time series animation. MPEGs can be created from the animation widget. Animation Options - 'ANIMATE' can be clicked at any time to create series of images. Keep in mind that the default is all frames, which may take a while to load. - Use 'CHOOSE BEGINNING TIME' and 'CHOOSE END TIME' to do just that. Every frame between and including these times will be loaded into animation. The IMAGE MIN and MAX values will be the minimum and maximum of the entire range selected for the chosen image parameter. - Choose parameters, contour increment, and image range as described above in 'Plot Frame Options' - Choose a new color table using 'NEW COLOR TABLE' at any time. Changes will be reflected in the animation. - When the animation is completed, you can make an MPEG of that time series be clicking on 'Write MPEG' in the IDL animation widget. - Unfortunately, the animation loading CANNOT BE CANCELLED once begun, so you may want to animate two frames at first to make sure you like your settings. - Also, the parameter choices, contour increment, and contour color will carry over from what you may have chosen in 'Plot Single Frame'. II. User Customization of Plot Amie There are many features that can be customized in Plot AMIE. Some are as easy as altering a default value, some require a little sleuthing on your part to find the proper code. In general, I tried to make it easy to change parameters that could be 'pulled out' of the main code, but some variables are imbedded and can only be changed by altering the necessary code in 'plot_routines.pro'. A. Changing 'define_vars.pro' - The code for 'define_vars.pro' was purposefully left out of 'plot_routines.pro' to make it easier to alter to your preferences. Most of the variables here are self-explanatory, so I won't describe them all. - ps_colors is currently commented out because there shouldn't be any major troubles with the colors, BUT if you are having troubles getting your colors looking right: - The first thing you may want to try is to uncomment the two lines in 'plot_amie.pro': window, xsize=2, ysize=2, /pixmap, /free, colors=256 wdelete, !d.window This will force your IDL session to 256 colors, even if it means using a private colormap. This should solve any PS color problems. - If this doesn't work, or if your don't like the color flashing a private colormap causes, you can uncomment this line in 'create_ps_event.pro' (in 'plot_routines.pro'): num_col = ps_colors. This will force your PS files to ps_colors which you can alter in 'define_vars.pro'. - Using one of these methods should rectify any color problems. - user_blat can be altered to any latitude higher than the dataset contains (generally around 50) - If you alter the default img_param_label or con_param_label, make sure you copy it exactly from the list, quotes and all. B. Customizing 's_fixclrtab.pro' (contained in 'plot_routines.pro') - This routine removes a set number of colors from the top and bottom of the color table, then stretches the remaining colors to the whole range. It also interpolates from color zero to the new bottom color over a user-defined number of colors. - The variable 'startcol' is the number of colors removed from the bottom of the table. - The variable 'endcol' is the number of colors removed from the top of the color table. - The bottom color is set to black automatically. The variable 'smooth' is the number of colors up from the bottom of the table that will be replaced by a smooth interpolation. C. Altering other routines - There is a list included at the top of 'plot_routines.pro' and in READ_ME_FIRST that lists all the routines withing 'plot_routines.pro'. There is an asterisk at the beginning of the files that contain lines that may be altered to change the appearance of the plots. They are not commented! If you do not know IDL well, save a copy of this program before changing anything. - Some examples: - By editing 'calc_int.pro', you can change the default values of the contour increment. - You can change the label text size in the animation window by altering the variable cbsize in 'anim.pro'. - 'clrbar.pro' and 'lblcntr.pro' plot the text. The text size, position, and content can be altered. - You can change the color of the plot grid by changing the color parameter in the line: map_grid, latdel= 10, color= 255, glinethick= 1.8 which is contained in 'polarplt.pro' and 'conplt_only.pro'. III. Troubleshooting I will start writing this section as trouble messages start coming in. If you have a problem, please contact me (Don Kolinski) at kolinski@hao.ucar.edu